Chapter 162: Authentic! Fantasy! Adventurer!
Adventurer Code Name?
Death Maniac Swordswoman.
Gender?
Male.
The record keeper at the camp paused for a moment, his face unchanged. Please read and confirm adherence to the Adventurer Agreement No. 430 and the Secrecy Agreement. Here is the printout
Accepted.
Please show your adventurers badge.
Ashe, wearing a mask, pulled out a round badge and slid it across the glass screen of the check-in device. The screen lit up green. The recorder nodded, Registration completed, you may enter.
Without any hindrance, Ashe easily stepped into the Observation Point No. 53 Camp. A crude earthen wall that was thirty meters high isolated the inside from the outside. At the very center of the camp was a tall tower, and atop it was a deep blue swirl, Ashes target for this trip: the Level 2 Virtual Realm Turbulent Passage.
All vegetation in the camp had been cleared, replaced by rows of benches. Many adventurers gathered to chat, pulling out bottles of wine to discuss the wide world, then popping a piece of Moon Sugar into their mouths and convulsing drinking and eating sugar was a heavenly joy.
From time to time, there were shouts:
Flame Squad, come this way!
Wolves, gather here!
Falgar, Falgar, where is Falgar from the Coffin Bearer team?
Apart from these noisy individuals, there were also many lone wolves like Ashe, wearing standard cloaks and masks, mysteriously observing with cold eyes.
Such chaos was the diverse representation of adventurers in the war zone.
When Ashe looked at the adventurer information on the Canopy, he couldnt help but applaud the Blood Moon Realms superb level of exploitation and oppression because under the social atmosphere of human rights and freedom and racial equality, the military expenses required by conscription were just too high. So, the Blood Moon Realm decided to simply get rid of its army!
The Blood Moon Realm disbanded its army 300 years ago and entirely switched to the adventurer system.
The so-called adventurer system involves the war zone providing tasks, adventurers accepting and completing these tasks, and then receiving rewards from the war zone. The relationship between the war zone and the adventurers is only contractual, with the adventurers free to come and go. In theory, this could indeed share some of the armys duties.
The greatest benefit of the adventurer system is naturally not having to provide training costs, not having to deal with logistics, and not having to offer compensation.
Its not the war zones concern if an adventurer dies. If an adventurer doesnt want to work, they can go. There are plenty of people behind them eager to accept tasks. The war zone doesnt have to worry about human rights, after all, the relationship is not even that of an employer-employee, but a temporary contractual one.
Simply put, because forming an army requires treating soldiers as people, its too expensive; recruiting adventurers only requires treating adventurers as tools. Theres no need to waste money on race, human rights, and other extraneous factors, thus significantly reducing costs.
In the first year of implementing the adventurer system, the Blood Moon Realm saved 80% of its military expenditure.
And the most wonderful part is, switching from conscription to the adventurer system had no negative impact on the Blood Moon Realm.
The reason is that the Blood Moon Realm has no hard military needs for suppressing rebellions, defending borders, or disaster relief.
Theres no need to suppress rebellions, especially when considering the anti-love education implemented by the Blood Moon Realm. The chip at the back of everyones neck makes large-scale rebellions impossible.
There are no natural disasters, the meteorological bureau takes care of everything before a disaster could happen. As for the virtual realm disasters caused by sorcerers, naturally, sorcerers have to solve them, the army cant help with that.
As for the borders, in the words of the Canopy, the Blood Moon Supreme has already helped us resist the external enemies, so theres no need for an army stationed at the borders.
Maintaining public safety, capturing criminals, preventing cults, and other affairs are the responsibility of the Heresy Court.
Thus, the military was left with only two functions: emergency troops and suppression of the Abyss scattered across the landscape. These responsibilities could be entirely shouldered by adventurers. Therefore, even though efficiency hadnt improved after the military system transitioned to the adventurer system, it hadnt decreased either. Groups of adventurers subsequently took the stage in history.
As a violent organization, adventurers were a diverse group. Among them were combat sorcerers who devoted themselves to protect the Blood Moon and hone their skills. There were also opportunists seeking to gain resources from the war zones, and even wanted criminals who sought refuge and survival in the war zones.
Yes, war zones were willing to shelter wanted criminals, and the Heresy Court wouldnt go into war zones to arrest people. For villains who had committed heinous crimes in the city and had nowhere else to go, the war zones were essentially their only sanctuary.
For instance, the Woodpecker Gang controlled by Sylin had a branch in the Lakeview War Zone, which specialized in taking in members who had caused trouble. If Golden Mouth Ronat hadnt been captured, he would likely have gone to Lakeview to become an adventurer.
When Ashe heard about the adventurer system while in prison from Igor, he asked if they could possibly make a living in the war zones after escaping. He dreamt of embarking on an exciting adventure, earning merit while clearing their names, and putting this strange cult leader back on the path of a fantastical journey.
However, Igor coldly dismissed this fantasywhile the war zone didnt care whether you were a heinous villain or an offender guilty of racial discrimination due to bad breath, you had to have a Chip.
Without a Chip, wanted criminals couldnt even enter the Safe Rest Area provided by the war zones. As the name suggests, this area would activate the Attack Prohibition in the adventurers Chips, preventing any attacks within the safe zone.
Ignoring the fact that Ashe was unwilling to implant a Chip, even if he were willing, he couldnt find a way. Implantation of Chips was a monopoly of the Beloved Church; even the underground black market only provided purification services, not implantation.
Thus, the five major criminals who escaped from prison had no way back after their Chips were removed.
Furthermore, life as an adventurer wasnt as rosy as Ashe imagined. The war zones only accepted Merit as currency. Regardless of how much money you had, you couldnt live comfortably in the war zonesin fact, you might be fleeced. In the end, youd have to take on tasks, like monster hunting in the sewer abyss for a living.
According to statistics, only 25% of new adventurers could survive in the war zones for a year. Although most people returned to the city to work due to an inability to persist, this survival rate was still horrifying.
To accommodate such a diverse group of adventurers, the war zones also introduced the Adventurer Merit system. All mission rewards were Merits, and adventurers could exchange Merits for any rewards in the war zones, including but not limited to spirits, Miracle Techniques, Faction Knowledge, and so on.
The ingenious part was that Merits were not registered on the Chips, but on the adventurer badges that they carried with them.
Adventurer badges were anonymous.
As long as you could present an adventurer badge, the war zone would exchange your Merits for rewards, regardless of whether the badge was yours, found, or taken by killing someone.
It was only when Ashe discovered this mechanism that he fully understood the Blood Moon Realms intentions in implementing the adventurer system. With this method alone, large-scale violent groups were fundamentally dissolved in the war zones. As long as the war zone could provide Merit exchange rewards, suspicion would always linger among adventurers.
In the Blood Moon Realm, which even banned familial units, how could they allow the existence of a violent group like the military?
Although large groups didnt exist, small adventurer teams of five or six people were countless. In this camp alone, there were seven or eight such teams.
Seeing these Flame Adventurers, Hungry Wolf Team, Gale Brigade, Ashe couldnt help but tear up he also had a bit of longing for this kind of fantasy adventuring life, to form an adventure group with a few like-minded buddies, embark on an unknown journey, experience epic stories, and then retire and get married before the age of 35, retiring to the countryside.
Ideally, he hoped to meet a beautiful, sexy lover, a virtuous and caring wife, a red-faced acquaintance, and a vibrant, cute girlfriend.
And it would be even better if they could avoid meeting each other.
Thats what a real fantasy story is.
But now he was caught escaped from prison fled the country, this isnt a fantasy story, this is clearly a cops and robbers story!
Theres no need to cross worlds; he could experience this process just by embezzling public funds from the company!
Just as Ashe was once again enveloped in the melancholy of adulthood, a friction seemed to arise among the adventurers.
A cloaked, masked adventurer claimed that he had lost his badge and suspected that the three people who had just passed by him had stolen it. Naturally, the three denied it and were even willing to be searched by the masked one.
As the masked one searched the first person, the first person raised his hands, holding the adventurers badge in his right hand, and threw it to the second person in the masked ones blind spot.
Everyone around saw this scene, but no one spoke, all just watching the drama unfold. Those with malicious intentions need not mention, even those with a good heart would not lend a hand even an important badge could be stolen, thats better to give up the adventurers career, and obediently go back to the city to become a cog in the wheel.
The masked one went to search the second person, the second person also raised his hands, and threw the badge to the third person. When the masked one went to search the third person, the third person threw the badge to the first person.
The badge was equivalent to having circulated among the three, causing the onlookers to burst into laughter.
The three were purely trying to make fun of the masked one. In the end, the masked one got nothing and could only admit his bad luck and leave.
Just as Ashe thought this was just a usual social beatdown, the three suddenly screamed.
Wheres my badge? How did my badge disappear?
Mine is gone too! Damn, it must have been that Goblins bastard!
Where did he go?! Find him quick, my badge has the merit of buying a spirit!
The three were so angry that they were looking everywhere for the masked one, but there were too many people wearing cloaks and masks here. The masked one blended into the crowd as soon as he dived into it, how could they find him? They even targeted Ashe, who stared back at them fearlessly.
Hahaha, Im dying of laughter, I just saw him take your badges when he was searching you, but I didnt say anything, hahaha!
What are you glaring at, you cant even steal better than others, are you still here to lose face? Are you looking for a fight?
Weve had enough laughter, you can leave now.
The members of the surrounding adventurer groups loudly mocked them, laughter was heard everywhere, the three were so angry that their shoulders were shaking, they were so aggrieved they were about to cry. They could only whisper a few harsh words that no one could hear, and slinked away to the edge of the area.
At this point, the Goblins in a suit walked onto the stage. He was tall and handsome, with a pair of silver-framed glasses on his nose, and a top hat covering his hairless head, suddenly looking like a glowing green elf.
A mere goblins exuded an elegant aura (Ashe was completely unaware that he was being racially discriminatory), it was unknown whether it was plastic surgery or natural anyway, the genetic optimization technology of the Blood Moon Realm was the best in the world.
Good evening adventurers, I am the clerk for this mission, Gibot Mantelas. The Goblins calmly said: There are only 90 minutes left until midnight, the camp is now closed, we will now enter the combat preparation stage.
Being in charge of the foreign invasion operation, a risk-free endeavor that only serves to polish ones political resume, it appears this Goblins is a candidate for the council.
A sudden commentary on politics, quite familiar to Ashe, came from the side. He turned his head in puzzlement to glance at the cloaked adventurers beside him, but he couldnt ascertain who was speaking.
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